Shoe Repair Parts & Tools

Shoe repair is a tricky business because it goes beyond making your shoes look good. A good repair needs to ensure the shoe is comfortable and can stand the wear and tear of daily walking. A bad repair job can result in foot pain or blisters. Luckily, the shoe repair business has a balance between hand operated tools that can make personalised and meticulous repairs and automated machinery that can make quick and accurate fixes.

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Replacement Soles and Outsole Stitching Machines

The sole of your shoe is a part that needs immediate repair if damaged. A worn out sole can leave your foot exposed or susceptible to sharp objects on the ground and can be the source of severe discomfort. Shoe repair shops have soles that can fit any shoe. They'll remove the old one by removing the sole stitching and fasten the new one on by using an outsole stitching machine. An outsole stitching machine is like a big, powerful sewing machine. Each replacement sole groves that outline the path the stitching machine needs to follow to property fasten the sole to the shoe. The groove in the sole is placed underneath the needle while the operator holds the shoe in place by hand. When the outsole stitching machine is turned on, it stitches the sole along the groves and into the leather part of the shoe. The new sole is completely attached to the old shoe when the stitching machine completely stitches through the groove.

shoe (Kraig Scarbinsky/Stockbyte/Getty Images)

Shoe Stretcher

A shoe stretcher is a hand operated device that can help reshape a shoe to fit the size and shape of the owner's feet. With all the banging and clanging a shoe has to go through to be properly fixed, it shouldn't be a surprise that the shoe leather may become misshaped after the repairs are done. A shoe stretcher fixes that situation. This device looks like a human foot and is inserted into the shoe. The stretcher can then be lengthened or widened to stretch out the shoe leather and shape it back into a more natural foot-like shape. The shoe will keep the new stretched out shape even after the device is removed.

shoe (Comstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images)

Automated Shoe Shiners

Shoe shining is like the icing on the cake for shoe repairs. A few stitches here and there may make your shoe feel like new, but a good shoe shine will make your shoe look like new. A good shoe shine will buff out and repair any scratches in the shoe's colouring. Shoe repair businesses are moving away from hand polishing and are starting to use polishing machines. These automated shiners use a high powered spinning shiner to apply the polish and to buff out scratches. What may have taken several minutes to complete by hand now takes mere seconds. The shoe is placed against the spinning shiner and rotated by hand to shine the entire outer surface of the shoe.